Apr. 22, 2013
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Missing rafter Kaitlin Kenney has been found. / Family photo

by Kitty Yancey, USA TODAY

by Kitty Yancey, USA TODAY

UPDATE MONDAY April 22, 7 p.m.: Rafter Kaitlin Kenney's cause of death has been ruled accidental drowning, according to the Associated Press. The Cococino County Medical Examiner's Office in Arizona did not go into detail about how she fell into the Colorado River, but said that foul play was not involved.

UPDATE TUESDAY APRIL 16, 7:15 p.m.: I checked with the Cococino County Medical Examiner's Office in Arizona and was told that the cause of death of rafter Kaitlin Kenney still is unannounced. The office is waiting for toxicology tests, and it is not unusual for autopsies to take 45 days, I was told. Kenney's body was pulled from the Colorado River March 21.

And so the mystery of the disappearance of a young woman who was a champion fiddler while on a Grand Canyon rafting trip in January is, sadly, not fully solved.

A National Park Service press release says the body of Kaitlin Kenney, last seen on the night of Jan.11 at a Colorado River camp, has been recovered. It says that on March 21, people on a private river trip "reported finding a woman's body in the river at about river mile 165."

The body was taken by helicopter to a medical examiner and later confirmed to be that of Kenney, 21, of Englewood, Colo.

Kenney was on a rafting trip with friends when she disappeared during the night.

There are key questions that remain to be answered. Did she fall into the freezing river while disoriented at night during a call of nature, as her mother has speculated? The Park Service release did not shed any light on cause of death. It says it is continuing its investigation in partnership with the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office.